Obi And The Root Canal
by Danalas the Lady Chaos
Summary: Obi has to have a root canal.
1. The Hot Salt Water Every Hour On The Hou...

Obi And The Root Canal

Disclaimer: If you recognize them, they belong to George Lucas. If you don't, they're mine. All mine. Though if you ask nicely, I may let you play with my creations. *G*

Warning: Not for squeamish or faint of heart. I would say about a 7 on my gross-o-meter. But closer to 3 or 4 for the average population.

Chapter 1

Obi-Wan tossed and turned all night, not getting any sleep. His tooth hurt like hell. Weird, it hadn't bothered him 'til now, and he had chipped it six months ago on a training mission. But now it was killing him. He had tried blocking out the pain, but the minute he fell asleep, it came back, jolting him awake. And now, the young Padawan was in agony. How could one little tooth cause so much trouble? he wondered.

The next morning at breakfast, his master, Qui-Gon, looked up at him, frowning. "What's wrong, Padawan? I could sense your pain all last night, and you look like you didn't sleep at all." Obi-Wan sighed, sitting in the chair on the other side of the small table. "It's my tooth, Master. It hurts like hell." Qui-Gon frowned again. "Which one is it? The one you chipped? Maybe you should finally see a dentist about it."

The look on Obi-Wan's face quickly resembled that of a young child who had just been caught raiding the candy jar. "No, Master. Anything but that! Not the dentist!! I'd rather suffer!!" Qui-Gon shook his head softly. "Alright, Obi-Wan. I won't force you. Though I do think it would be a good idea. That tooth may need to come out." "I'm not going," Obi said, stubborn, as he slowly, painfully ate his breakfast.

Obi-Wan had been hoping the pain would be over by the end of the day. He was wrong. And by the next morning, his upper lip had puffed out, as well as his nose. The pain was worse as well. Still, when Obi-Wan went into breakfast, Qui-Gon had a terrible time not laughing at his apprentice's appearance. "I think you should put some ice on that, Padawan. It will help the swelling go down." Obi-Wan nodded and put some ice into a cloth, holding it up to his nose and lip.

"I think I'm ready to go to the dentist now, Master," he said, softly. "Maybe when this is cleared up I'll be able to eat. Right now, though, my stomach is retching from the pain and I doubt I'll be able to chew anything." Qui-Gon nodded in understanding, then made some hot herbal tea for his apprentice. "Here, this should help a bit," he said, setting it in front of Obi-Wan, who nodded his thanks. "I'll make an appointment for you to see Dr. Harrod as soon as possible," he added.

Two days later, Obi-Wan sat in the chair in Dr. Harrod's office. Dr. Harrod was a kindly older man who made Obi-Wan as comfortable as he could. "Open wide, please," he said, pulling out his little mirror thing for looking behind teeth. Obi-Wan did as he was told, opening his mouth as wide as he could while the dentist looked inside for a moment, both behind his teeth and in front around the gums.

After looking, Dr. Harrod took a couple of x-rays of the problem tooth. "I'm afraid I can't do anything, this time," he said, looking at the x-rays. "The tooth has abscessed. There's puss pouring out of the gums, and the tooth has been pushed out of place. Would you like to see?" he asked Obi-Wan, reaching for the big mirror. Obi-Wan shook his head. "No thanks," he replied, starting to feel even more ill.

"I'm going to prescribe some penicillin. I want you to take it every six hours until it's done. And every hour, on the hour, I want you to hold hot salt water around the tooth. It needs to be as hot as you can stand, alright?" Obi-Wan made a face. "He's been drinking hot tea, mostly. And I've had him keep an ice-pack against the swelling," Qui-Gon said. Dr. Harrod nodded. "Hot tea will work as well, though hot salt water will work the best."

With that the dentist pulled out a small bottle of penicillin "Take two of these now," he said, pouring two of the pills into Obi-Wan's hands. "There's some water next to you to wash it down with. When this clears up, we're going to have to do a root canal to save that tooth. It's dead, and if we don't do the root canal, it will have to be pulled." "A…a….root canal?" Obi asked, not at all liking the sound of that. 

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt," Dr. Harrod quickly assured him. "And if it does, you can always just wave your hand for me to stop. We won't make the appointment now. We'll wait 'til the abscess clears up, alright?" Obi-Wan just nodded slightly. "Thank you, Doctor," Qui-Gon said. "I'll call you when it clears up. Come along, Obi-Wan." And with that they left the office. 


	2. On The First Day Of Treatment My Dentist...

Obi And The Root Canal

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

Chapter 2

For the next week, Obi followed Dr. Harrod's advice. And exactly one week after the first visit, Obi was in the chair again for the beginning of what promised to be a very painful procedure. "Please knock me out," he begged. And so it happened for the next several minutes. Dr. Harrod would explain to him why he wouldn't feel a pain. Obi would come up with a new reason for why he should be knocked out, amongst them that he would hyperventilate throughout the entire procedure. By the time Qui-Gon was brought in to calm him down, Obi was even crying. 

Dr. Harrod began the explanation all over again when the Jedi Master arrived. "Listen," he said. "Here's what I've been trying to explain to him. The tooth is dead. It's as dead as a tropical plant on Tatooine. Yes, the tooth has two sets of nerves. One, the dead one, is what fills in the tooth. With it dead, bacteria have set in and caused it to abscess. The other, however, is just up here," he said, pointing to the upper gums. 

"This nerve is only activated by pressure. And that is the only reason he'd feel any pain, is from pressure. If you use a high speed drill and press lightly, there is no pressure, and therefore, no pain. Watch this," he said, pulling out a bit, attaching it to the drill. Turning it on, he pressed it against his finger. "See? It's making a dent in my finger, and there's no pain. Now, either we can do this, or you'll have to go to a hospital, or you lose the tooth. Quite frankly I'd like to get this over with as quickly as possible, and I'm sure you'll agree." 

Resigned to his fate, Obi-Wan opened his mouth for Dr. Harrod, though he continued to hyperventilate, and tears continued to go down his face completely out of fear. By the time the drill had started to enter his tooth, Obi was even whimpering. "Shhhh. You're not feeling any pain. If you were, you'd be flinching." Qui-Gon just nodded. "A Jedi knows no pain, Padawan. A Jedi knows no pain." Obi-Wan didn't mind that they were talking to him like he was a child. After all, that was what he was acting like. But what bothered Obi was that his Master was reciting that damned line over and over and over again. 

"See? That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Dr. Harrod asked, finished with the drilling. Obi just remained silent as his tormenter pulled out a then screw-type wire. "Open wide. This won't hurt a bit," Dr. Harrod said, sticking the wire into Obi's tooth. Obi-Wan began screaming in pain, though, and Qui-Gon had to use the Force to keep him still. Dr. Harrod inserted the wire, twisted, and pulled it out several times, each time bringing out gunk and dead nerves. 

"Alright, all done," he said, finally. Obi breathed a sigh of relief. What had only been five minutes had seemed like forever for the poor Padawan. "Now I'm just going to put in a temporary filling with some disinfectant and we'll make an appointment to get this over with." With that he stuffed a bit of cotton into the tooth and a small enamel piece to hold it in. "Now, this may taste bad. It's got oil of cloves on it. But it'll help keep any new pain at bay and help disinfect the abscess. There you go, son, your tooth is now saved for life. All we have to do now is make an appointment to finish the job."

Obi was quick to jump out of his chair. "Thank you, Doctor," Quisaid. "When shall we make the next appointment?" "Well," the dentist replied, "I'd like to make it more than four days but less than a week. How about Saturday?" Qui frowned. "Friday would be better," he said. "Say, around eleven-hundred hours?" Dr. Harrod nodded. "Friday at 1100 it is," he agreed. "See you then." 

**A/N- **I apologize for the delay, folks. Naturally, I was shocked and saddened by the events of Tuesday, September 11th. I didn't feel I could write until now. Though I'm in England, I'm still proud to be an American, and I hope that whomever orchestrated these events will be brought to justice very soon.


	3. Temporary Filling Take Two!

Obi And The Root Canal

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

Chapter 3

On Friday, Obi-Wan once again went with Qui-Gon to Dr. Harrod's office. The taste of the clove oil had remained with him the entire time, and Obi-Wan was more than ready to get this over with. When he took his seat in the chair, Qui-Gon stayed in the room with him, just in case. Still, the young Padawan remained calm as Dr. Harrod removed the temporary filling. "Looks like I can't put in the root filling this time, son," Dr. Harrod said, shaking his head. Then he pulled out one of the wires again. Obi-Wan grimaced, seeing it.

"Would you like me to give you a local? The infection is cleared up enough that I can do that this time," the dentist said, seeing Obi-Wan's reluctance to let the work go ahead. The young Padawan nodded, despite assurances from Qui-Gon that the wires would be nothing compared to the shot required for receiving an anaesthetic. So, Dr. Harrod pinched some cotton off a large wad, covered it in a white gel, and stuck it up under Obi-Wan's upper lip where the shot would be given. "Alright," he said. "We're just going to give that a moment to start working." 

Obi-Wan's eyes lit up at the taste of the anaesthetic. Spearmint! It was the young Jedi's favourite flavour. A minute later, though, the flavour was gone and there was just numbness. And that's when Dr. Harrod pulled out the largest needle Obi-Wan had ever seen. The young Padawan began hyperventilating immediately, despite Qui-Gon sending numerous comforting thoughts to him through the Force, along with an occasional 'What did I tell you?' Still, the needle went in, and within another standard minute, most of Obi-Wan's face was very numb.

So it was that for the remainder of the visit, Obi-Wan just held his mouth open like a good little patient and did whatever Dr. Harrod needed of him. Once again Dr. Harrod put in the wire screws, scraping out the inside of Obi-Wan's tooth. And once again he lined it, putting in a temporary filling. "There we go. How's Tuesday for the next appointment?" Qui-Gon nodded. "That will be fine. Eleven hundred hours, again?" Dr. Harrod nodded, the appointment was made, and Qui-Gon escorted Obi-Wan out into the street.

At the moment, Obi-Wan was feeling pretty good. The drugs were still in effect. He was feeling no pain at the moment. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day. At least, the day was as beautiful as a day could get on Coruscant. So, Obi-Wan decided that instead of going straight back to the Jedi Temple, he wanted to go for a walk through Monument Square. Knowing the drugs would wear off soon, Qui-Gon obliged his young apprentice.

First they stopped at a refreshment stand, each getting something to drink. But Obi-Wan couldn't seem to get his drink down. The taste of the clove oil prevented it. Then he tried a chocolate donut. It didn't help any, either. Finally, Obi-Wan was resigned to his fate as he and Qui-Gon returned to their rooms in the Temple. The taste of clove oil was just not going to go away. To Obi-Wan, it seemed, he just never had a chance against the Force forsaken stuff. 


	4. Finished At Last

Unknown User Unknown User 15 271 2001-09-09T11:49:00Z 2001-11-01T15:52:00Z 1 297 1698 Unknown Organization 14 3 2085 9.2720 

Obi And The Root Canal

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

Chapter 4

On Tuesday, Obi-Wan was once again in the chair. Opening his mouth obediently, it was obvious he just wanted to get this over with. Once again, the clove oil taste had stayed with him the entire time. But now, it was almost over. That was, if the infection was gone. The young Padawan waited patiently for Dr. Harrod to remove the temporary filling. "The infection is gone, this time. We can put the permanent filling in. And this isn't bad. I once had to do a root canal on another dentist that took 38 visits," he said. Obi-Wan's jaw dropped in surprise. How could anyone stand going through that?

Then Dr. Harrod took out the drill. But instead of a drill bit, there was a small rubber piece that flailed out as it spun around. Still, Obi-Wan jerked back. "No need to be afraid. It's not a drill. It's just going to spin the filling a bit so that it goes in place, alright?" Dr. Harrod said, showing the young Jedi that it was completely harmless. "Fear is of the Dark Side, Padawan," Qui-Gon intoned from the back of the room, sending calming thoughts to his apprentice's mind. So, reluctantly, Obi-Wan opened his mouth once again. The minutes ticked by slowly for him as Dr. Harrod inserted first the lining, then the filling. The spinning thing wasn't so bad. It even tickled a little, Obi-Wan thought. 

Finally, the dentist removed the tool from the Padawan's mouth. "That's it?" Obi asked. "Almost," Dr. Harrod said, pulling out a piece of x-ray film. "I'm just going to take an x-ray real quick, so that I can redo it while it's still soft if I have to." Obi-Wan looked sick at the thought of going through it again. He thanked the Force when Dr. Harrod looked at the x-ray with approval. "Absolutely perfect," he said, showing the x-ray to Obi. "That mean this root canal is completely over?" the young Jedi asked. The dentist nodded. With that, Obi-Wan Kenobi bolted through the door, ready to get back to the temple, and wanting to get there before the anaesthetic wore off.

_Finis_


End file.
